This past Sunday, we were reminded that the Cherubim stationed at the entrance to Eden, tasked to guard God’s holy presence and the Tree of Life, sheathed their swords once the work of Christ to die for sinners was finished. Yet, there is another very powerful text that we did not have time to look at, Matthew 27. In this passage, Jesus has finished His work of redemption and He physically dies on the cross. Matthew reports to us what happens next:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Matthew 27:50-54 (ESV)

Many of us know this series of events. It still gives me goose bumps. Don’t get me started on dead people starting to rise as a preview of the Great Resurrection, but for now, let me focus on the curtain. Did you know there was something specific embroidered on the torn curtain that was between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies? Cherubim! There were cherubim sewn into the curtain, a symbol of the original angelic host that protected Eden! In other words, God was clearly saying “The way back to Eden is open again!” The flaming sword has been sheathed! Jesus has invited us back to Eden.

OK, but there is something here we dare not miss. What is it that we should experience upon entering Eden? Certainly, there is the beauty of the garden, the joy of forgiveness, and of course the love of God renewed in our hearts. But there is something else that we must experience in our Edenic lives – which we will see in full one day when heaven and earth are fully reunited – the visible glory of God. In our access to the garden, through the Tree of Life named Jesus, we are invited to behold the glory of God. The holy glory of God is the peculiar and beautiful reality of Eden… and that gets us to a big theme from Sunday, namely, holiness.

Holiness is a byproduct of beholding the glory of God.

One cannot be entranced with the glory of God without becoming conformed to that glory – and thus to become fully human – and thus holy, and that is where I simply want to leave us for now…

There is a lot to say about personal and communal holiness. We covered some of that in our recent podcast. But let me leave you with this one really important truth, first in the negative – you will never hunger for your own holiness if you have not beheld the glory of God. Now in the positive – once you have seen the glory of God, you will hunger and seek your holiness, in his love and by his grace. 

There are a lot of ways to pursue holiness. There are several areas the Bible speaks of when it comes to conformity to Christ. But, before any of that is going to even be meaningful and compelling to us, we must first behold the glory of God. After that… game over.

How will I know I have seen the glory of God? Oh, you will know. Well, how do I go about seeing it? Ask. Will it mess with me? Yes, totally. Will it be worth the upheaval? A thousand times over. So, my one exhortation for us all – 

Today, will we cry out to God with desperation and ask Him to reveal to us, perhaps in a very powerful way, His glory?